Thursday, 22 April 2010

A little background on the day and I will proceed with a few ideas on preserving the mother earth, and relate it with a few crisis which are apprehended to hit the world in the times to come.

The earth in order top be preserved of the damage done by mankind's greed needs greater activism. The Earth Day was christened on April the 22nd, 1970. Forty years on we are still long way to go. Almost each year mankind is hit by the anger of the mother earth in the forms of earth quacks, Tsunami's, floods & droughts, melting glaciers.

Himalayas known as the young mountains, as they are still climbing and growing, will be stripped off their ice cover due to climate change. The glaciers are expected to melt by 2035 impacting the water supply, river channels and wild lives. Himalayas combined drainage basin is home to some 3 billion people almost half of earth population in countries which includes Afghanistan,Bangladesh, Bhutan, People's Republic of China, India, Nepal, Burma, Cambodia, Tajikistan,Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia and Pakistan.

Volcanoes are said to erupt due to extensive mining. Iceland is bearing the brunt of it.

Thanks to the Green Delhi Clean Delhi Drive, the green cover in Delhi which was 36 sq km eight years back is now 300 sq km and still counting. Though we still have concrete colonies in the city! My suggestion for the Delhi's greening drive is to not just plant trees but plant Mango, Guava, Blackberry, mulberry fruit tree. The basis for this is that ten years down the line Delhi will not just flourish with greenery around but will also provide sustainable habitat to lots of birds. This will also help in combating the food crisis which is likely to hit the globe big time in future.

Another suggestion that I would wish to make it to stop polluting our rivers. Industrialization should not damage the natural ecology. Its no news to us that many exotic species have extinct due to water pollution, damage done to the forest covers. So I suggest that apart from extensive reforestation drive, each of the industry must have a waste recycle/management unit. None of the industry should be allowed to pollute the environment. Though it is apparent that government has laws in place, but somehow they are not working and needs to be reviewed!

Author's Note: Please don't assault the beauty of the mother earth. Use the resources wisely, Recycle, Renew and Reuse! Let us be able to wish earth a happy earth day!

Tuesday, 20 April 2010

Matrimonial alliances in India (read Delhi) is the typical examples of materialism! Everything, right from the food, baarat, shaadi, exchange of gifts - the thin line that segments dowry, etc. should happen King sized. The sacred institutions puts the matrimonial alliances as paramount! A typical matrimonial alliance is initaited with social status, income and in some cases education! Family background, the spouses of prospective siblings also matter and finds place in the bio-data.

Once the proposal has been fixed, each of the party try to exhibit their superiority by pegging the maximum gifts, displaying it to the guests to gauge maximum praises. Gift are being extended in 'cash or kind' to even the insignificant relatives. They look out for opportunities and occasions to gift. And not to forget mentioning each splurging spree should be clicked in the camera.

Now comes the functions close to the wedding day! The elderly of the family will be the cashier, as s/he would be taking stock of cash transactions. Everything is being done with a bang, be it the Mehendi ceremony or the afternoon lunch. While the families come across as anti-dowry (which means that the groom side will not demand cash on the wedding day)!

All the demands would be however conveyed through loug mouthed relatives, and such gifts can follow after the wedding day. The girls family makes sure that at least a car is being gifted to the groom. While the groom expects that at least a flat in upmarket location should come along with the wagon.

Baarati's are high on liquor and shoot a cracker in air announcing their arrival. The Ghori wala during this time analyses the worth of allowing the groom to get down from the horse and asks for a hefty amount. This amount is not paid and the ghoriwala is being given anything between 200-500 bucks, or 1 grand in exceptional cases!

Now comes the bride loaded with heavy jewellery and embellished with a gorgeous lehenga. Not just the bride, all the girls attending the wedding are dressed in heavy attire as if their price charming will ride her away on the day!

Not to forget mentioning that the groom already had a girlfriend, but no guts to stand up for his love given the social status / threat of being excluded from the family etc. He had considered eloping with her girlfriend, but an arranged setup sounded good as he feels that he cannot give her everything. He is also lured into an arranged matrimonial alliance on the unsaid assumption that the girl he is getting married to belongs to a rich family and she should get good amount of gifts throughout her life!

Author's Note:Many guys are waiting for a huge bonanza in the form of such gifts. This at times makes me feel bad for the society. Really guys do, even those who seem decent, but such hypocrisy surmounts !

Thursday, 15 April 2010

Love Sex aur Dhokha (LSD) focuses on three stories, intermingled yet standing out. It shows that each one of us are a part of a unique story line.

The third directorial venture by Dibakar Banerjee , who has had movies like Khosla Ka Ghonsla , and Oyye Lucky Lucky Oyye ! All the three movies revolve around the basic norms of the society, while his earlier movies had the lead moving off happily in the end, LSD differed!

In LSD, the fact is reaffirmed that one is being watched, through CCTVs, handy cams, bag-camera etc. There is no lead, it is the interplay of characters showing that honuor killings happen, casting couch is very much existent and money can drive people to do cheap stuff!

Watch the movie, because after coming out of the hall, one gets a strange feeling of getting robbed, cheated and smashed on the back. There is not use of great technology, but the content drives you to think!

It also reaffirms that it is still a gender segmented society, where one who wants justice should con the masculine lot!

Wednesday, 14 April 2010

No more male bashing, uttering the F*** word each time she is irritated with the biases that revolve around gender. Feminism is more about understanding the problems that out society has bred, and correcting the same.

I am also a feminist, but I don't hold men redundant. Men have their own special role in this world. The hypothesis that stem cell research have held men redundant will remain a hypothesis! But I hate the psyche of some segment of men, who think that its their birth right to think that they have all the knowledge in the world to decide how society should function. Thankfully I am brought up in a setup where I had minimal encounter on gender issues, and thus I feel that I am able to judge it better.

This takes me to a few observations, and the foremost is Dibakar Banerjee's Love Sex aur Dhokha (LSD) . Movies are no big formula, they come out of the society, similarly LSD revolves around three stories, and I wish to quote the first where a couple elopes, gets married and the family accepts them. Later it is investigated that that the boy and the girl had been smashed, cut into pieces and found by the police in a plastic bag.

The second issue over feminism here is the fuss over Women Reservation bill. The first question that clicks my mind is do we in this century need a women reservation bill, and that too which limits the participation of women to 30%?

Third one being, criticizing women drivers. Its been ages that I have been observing women driving pretty well, but unfortunately I still find people commenting that women cannot drive well.. huh!

The point I wish to make here is that over ages we see people speaking on awareness, woman's rights, raise voice against harassment / bad mouthing. For how long do we have to move on with such tendencies. It should come as something inherit in the society, but it seems otherwise! I understand that newspapers are acting as chaos mongers, but they do bring the true picture, we still read on dowry deaths, unsafe Delhi and what not! I do still find eve teasers often, for how long should I fight? I am tired of it, but they are not!

Author's Note: Yes I am angry and I hate this biased, unjust and uncivilized society!